Din Eidyn Corpus (Book 2): dEaDINBURGH (Alliances) by Mark Wilson Page A

quietly, my strong core muscles flexing and stretching, keeping me tight and able to stop on a hair if needed.
    As I wait for two Rangers to pass by ten feet below me on the grassy slope, I smile a fraction of a smile, allowing myself to enjoy my hard-earned skills. I close my eye one more time, checking for trace movement or any guards I’ve missed.
    All clear .
    I’m entirely certain and infinitely confident in my assessment and use the three seconds I have to vault silently over the spiked iron fences, landing cat-like on Princes Street.
    On the street I say a silent prayer of thanks that The Ringed are almost entirely absent, having been drawn farther north by a metallic giant collapsing. I feel smooth, in control, powerful and strong, but I need more. More than I can have here.
                                                        

Chapter 8
     
    Joey
     
    “Where did you get these, Suzy?” Joey held a Tupperware tub filled with fruit scones up.
    Busy working tapping at the keys on the laptop Joey had brought with him, Suzy stole a quick glance towards the kitchen door where he stood.
    “Made ‘em,” she said, immediately turning back to the little screen. A beat later, she yelled into the kitchen, “You’ll find some plum jam in the cupboard.”
     
    A few minutes later, Joey placed a faded London 2012 Olympics tray holding scones, a teapot and the jam on top of a little table beside where Suzy sat working.
    “How’s it going?” Joey asked.
    Suzy had been tinkering with the laptop for around thirty minutes. Joey couldn’t begin to understand what she might be doing. He’d seen the odd television screen, like the ones at The Sick Kids’ place, and obviously there’d been that conversation with Fraser, but generally electronics may as well have been a stone from the age of the Pharaohs for all he could relate to their function.
    “Getting there,” Suzy muttered.
    She’d thrown some words at him shortly after being handed the device but he hadn’t understood. She had now given up trying to explain the processes she was going though after clocking the confusion painted on his face. Exclaiming that it’d “been a while and I wasn’t exactly a whizz-kid in the old days,” Joey assumed it was a sporting reference, Suzy having been an athlete in her youth. Then she’d asked him to be patient whilst she figured out the software. Whatever that was.
     
    Finally the ex-Olympian threw her arms above her head, stretched back and forced a series of cracks from a variety of joints.
    “Bingo!” she said.
    Joey didn’t get that reference either, but had grown accustomed to the phrases she used, so similar to Jock’s. They really were from a different world to his generation.
    Holding her hand out, Suzy clicked her fingers impatiently. “Flash-drive please, Joseph.”
    Fetching the little orange blob from the pocket of his black jeans, Joey paused momentarily before handing it to Suzy.
    “It’ll be fine, Joseph,” she reassured him. And so he let the only link to a mother he’d never known drop into his friend’s hand.
    Whistling as she popped the cap off, Suzy inserted the metal end into a port on the side of the laptop. A little dialogue popped up which Joey leaned in closer to read, keen not to miss anything.
     
    What would you like to do with this device?
    Scan and repair (may delete data).
    Format.
    Open to view files.
     
    Suzy hovered a wee arrow icon over the last suggestion and cut a glance at Joey.
    “Ready, son?” she asked, finger hovering over the command button.
    Joey gave a single curt nod.
    Clicking the command, Suzy moved her eyes closer to the screen as a window opened. Only one folder icon lay within. Suzy double-clicked it. An unfamiliar file type was the only item inside.
    Noticing Joey’s questioning look, she shrugged.
    “Only one way to find out, kid.”
    Suzy double-clicked the file. Joey held his breath.
    A video file